As one of stereoscopic video display systems, a display system of a passive type (polarized glass type) is known. In this display system, light emitted from a liquid crystal panel is brought to be in two different types of polarization states, and polarized glasses, which are configured with a polarization plate allowing the passage of only one type of polarized light being directed to the right eye and a polarization plate allowing the passage of only the other type of polarized light being directed to the left eye, are used to view a display screen, so that an image may be recognized as a stereoscopic image.
In order to bring the light emitted from a liquid crystal panel into two different types of polarization states, a patterned retardation film is utilized (see Japanese Patent No. 4508280, for example). The patterned retardation film is configured to include a patterned retardation layer and to allow the passage of linearly polarized light, so as to convert the linearly polarized light passing through each region into two types of circularly polarized light (or elliptically polarized light) with different polarization states.
Such a patterned retardation film is bonded to a liquid crystal panel, so that linearly-polarized light passing through the liquid crystal panel may be converted into two types of circularly polarized light (or elliptically polarized light) with different polarization states.
Thus, a video image for the right eye and a video image for the left eye are independently displayed in one screen, and the video image for the right eye is converted into one polarization state while the video image for the left eye is converted into the other polarization state, so that the video images may be recognized as a stereoscopic video image when viewed through the polarized glasses described above.